Vanessa Obioha
After nearly drowning Hollywood’s most celebrated artistes, the floodgates of sexual harassment are about to submerge the art world. Like it did with Hollywood’s movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, The New York Times few days ago published another investigative report on Benjamin Genocchio, a big player in the art world.
The report detailed various accounts of women who have had one ugly ordeal with the artist over the years. These women who mostly worked with him when he was the executive director of a top international art fair, Armoury Show claimed that Genocchio made sexual advances on them at work. One of the women, Colleen Calvo- the marketing coordinator at the time when Genocchio worked with Artnet News before moving to Armoury Show- told New York Times that he ran his hand up her sequin pants while she was helping check in guests at the company’s holiday party in 2014. He went on to make a lewd comment about that moment being the only time he could touch her rear without getting yelled at.
Another woman, Shane Ferro who worked at Blouin’s Artinfo said Geno loved to place his hands on her neck. She said that encounter made her to be afraid of male bosses.
Some of the words the women used to describe his actions include predatory, aggressive and frisky, although some of them claimed he stopped if being told that his lewd comments are offensive.
Genocchio an art critic started his career in The Australian. He was once an art writer for New York Times and an editorial director of Blouin Media.
These women, mainly colleagues or subordinates, are boldly speaking out now after the outcome of Weinstein sexual scandal. The ever-widening scandal has roped in many top players like the actor and producer Steven Seagal who was recently accused by the Portia De Rossi. Rossi claimed that Seagal harassed her during an audition for one of his films where he unzipped his pants before her to create an off-screen chemistry. Rossi is the fourth woman to accuse the actor of sexual misconduct.
Comedians are not left out in the fray as comedian Louis C.K was also accused of masturbating in front of two women, Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov in 2002. Other women has also spoken about his sexual misbehaviour.
Although, Genocchio’s actions didn’t fetch juicy headlines like Weinstein, they however cost him his job. Shortly after the report was published, Armoury Show announced that Genocchio was replaced by the deputy director Nicole Berry. At the time of this report, Genocchio only apologised for his behaviour while claiming that he has “never intentionally acted in an inappropriate manner nor spoke to or touched a colleague in a sexually inappropriate way.â€
NEW YORK FASHION FILM FESTIVAL CALL FOR ENTRIES
The New York Fashion Film Festival is now calling for entries for its 2018 edition. Now in its seventh consecutive year, the festival annually hosts a screening of selected fashion films followed by a panel discussion focusing on the nature of fashion and its growing relevance to the world, business fashion of fashion and the potential of fashion imagery to be deployed as a platform for invention, creativity and cultural inquiry.
For its eight edition, the festival is accepting submissions from everyone in the fashion community; from students, professionals and major fashion brands, as it seeks to investigate the evolving genre of fashion film. Entries will be open till January 15,2018.
NYFFF is produced by the MPS Fashion Photography Program.
WILL TAYLOR SWIFT MAKE HISTORY IN MTV EMAS TONIGHT?
The ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ crooner so far has had an amazing year with the rebranding and record breaking streaks. But will her winning streak continue tonight at SSE Arena, Wembley, London where the MTV EMA’s will hold? Swift dominates the award with six nods in the ‘Best Artist’, ‘Best Look’, ‘Best Pop’, ‘Best Video’, ‘Biggest Fans’, and ‘Best US Act’, categories. Following her closely is Shawn Mendes who clinched five nods. He is in a fierce competition with Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar, Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift in the ‘Best Artist’ category.
Ed Sheeran also got four nominations alongside Kendrick Lamar. Sheeran is nominated in ‘Best Live’, ‘Best Artist’, ‘Best Song’ and ‘Best UK & Ireland Act’.
As the music glitteratis gather for another epic night, expectations will run high on Swift and other big contenders. It is the second time London is hosting the event and as such, the frenzy will be a notch higher. Moreover, the music group U2, recipients of this year’s Global Icon Award kicked off the event yesterday with a special performance at the Trafalgar Square.
Lined-up performers for the night include Demi Lovato, Shawn Mendes, The Killers, French Montana, David Guetta among others. The show will be hosted by Rita Ora.
WHINE UP WITH MISS MISS FT. SKALES
Nigerian female rap singer MISS MISS (formerly LIL MISS MISS), known for her previous music releases such as Temptation (ft. Banky W), Gidi Girl Twerk (ft. Chuddy K), No Whine Me (ft. Del B) to list a few, recently teamed up with hip hop artiste SKALES to give us the much anticipated visuals to her summer released single titled, WHINE UP.
With Afrobeats currently taking over the global sound, Miss Miss successfully infuses the catchy sounds of Afrobeats and Caribbean vibes while maintaining an international sound that cuts across all boarders.
The video is set to take over your music TV screens for a while and is sure to keep you dancing and in the mood with her contagious energy, boss attitude and catchy dance moves. Therein, MISS MISS also captures the spirit of women empowerment and feminine independence all while keeping it a catchy tune.
With WHINE UP doubling as her official US debut single, the rapper is looking to take her game a notch higher as she courts the international market on the wave of the huge demand for African music out there at the moment.
